Email Marketing Blog

10 Most Frequently Given Tips in Email Marketing

Expert tips are crucial when it comes to improving your email marketing performance. I am sure there are email marketing tips you have heard many times. Yes, the most frequently given tips are in fact the most helpful ones!

We asked our email marketing experts which tips were always worth sharing and received ten helpful responses from Jordie van Rijn, independent email marketing consultant and founder of eMailMonday, Tim Watson, founder of Zettasphere and a member of the Direct Marketing Association, Mark Brownlow, email marketing expert and author at Email Marketing Reports and Tamara Gielen, digital direct marketing expert and founder of Plan to Engage.

#1 Outline the benefits of subscribing to your newsletters

Avoid shortcuts when you are trying to build your list. It takes time to build an opt in email list. Promote your email program prominently on your website and explain to potential subscribers what the benefits are of subscribing to your list (Tamara Gielen).

#2 Focus on delivering value to your subscribers

Email is an exchange: you receive access to the customer’s inbox – a private and prized bit of online real estate – but in return, you are expected to provide some kind of value to subscribers. Equally, value does not have to be super offers or really useful content, though they are definitely a good option! Value can also be gained from convenience, service, entertainment, personality, a feeling of belonging, etc. (Mark Brownlow).

#3 Prepare a clear message for what you want to say

Squint your eyes and look at your email campaign. Is it clear what your campaign is about? No? Go back to the drawing board. People do not read but scan your emails; therefore, clarity is one of the most important aspects of your message (Jordie van Rijn).

#4 Make recipients take action after reading an email

Make it crystal-clear to your subscribers what you want them to do after they have opened your email. If they do not know what is expected of them, they will not take the required action. If you want them to buy your product, tell them to “buy now” (Tamara Gielen).

#5 Target your email messages to the right audience

Avoid sending everything to everybody. Target your messages to the right audience and provide value and relevance in each email that you send to your subscribers (Tamara Gielen).

#6 Integrate emails into your business lifecycle strategy

Do not simply send ad-hoc email campaigns; instead, consider the entire customer lifecycle and identify opportunities for integrating and maybe even automating your email campaigns into this lifecycle (Tamara Gielen).

#7 Analyze data to create a better email strategy

The starting point to creating a better strategy is always to dive into the data to extract every nugget of insight about customers. Get deep into your data and use all the hard evidence you can to understand your customers. Then build a strategy based on the insights you have gained (Tim Watson).

#8 Regularly ask for feedback to improve your emails

Get your colleagues to subscribe to the email program and regularly ask for feedback. They might come up with a million dollar idea or simply a general improvement (Jordie van Rijn).

#9 Test and optimize your email marketing campaigns

Test, test and test! Evaluate the results of past email campaigns and take note of what has worked in the past. Then start testing these elements in your future campaigns. Only by testing will you be able to increase your response rates (Tamara Gielen).

#10 Take nothing for granted

What was right and good for you and your subscribers six months ago might not be right and good today or in six months’ time. Repeat tests and be aware of changes (such as the growth of mobile email) that might require fresh action. Try testing things that are seemingly innocuous or irrelevant (like using “+” instead of “and” in the subject line). Test results never cease to surprise me, even after almost 14 years in the business (Mark Brownlow).